


Moonlit Masquerade: High In the Mountains

by Rohad



Series: Moonlit Masquerade [9]
Category: The Owl House (Cartoon)
Genre: Camping, F/F, Gay, Lumity, Vinira
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-14
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:02:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 13,914
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26960347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rohad/pseuds/Rohad
Summary: Luz takes a trip with the gang
Relationships: Amity Blight/Luz Noceda, Emira Blight/Viney
Series: Moonlit Masquerade [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1935769
Comments: 51
Kudos: 671
Collections: We_Love_Lumity





	1. Chapter 1

"What if we went camping?" Willow suggests as they all sit around in the living room of the owl house.

"Camping?" Luz asks, tilting her head as she looks at her two friends sitting across from her and Amity. 

It's Friday after school, marking the beginning of fall break, a whole week off from school.

"Yeah, we can go out and enjoy the weather for a couple of days, hang out, no school or stuff." Willow grins, any outdoor activity is one she can get behind.

"And you two can be as gross as you want!" Gus smiles, directing his comment at Luz and Amity.

"We are not gross!" The green-haired girl barks and Luz agrees.

Willow and Gus look at them, Amity is sitting on one side of the couch with Luz laying across the rest, her head in her lap while Amity mindlessly runs her hand through dark brown hair. Willow cocks a brow at them.

"This proves nothing…," Luz grunts, crossing her arms but makes no move to extract herself from Amity, who rolls her eyes. 

"You kind of are… but in a good way!" Willow quickly amends. "What we mean is, you won't have to worry about hiding while we're camping." 

"I do love camping." Luz hums "Seems like it wouldn't be as much fun if we do it with magic though," she says. 

"Oh, what if we do it the human way? Everything by hand…. That is how humans do it right?" Gus looks at her.

"Yup, setting up tents and making the fire and all that fun stuff." Luz grins.

"Sounds good to me. We could leave tomorrow morning and come back Monday?" Willow asks. Gus and Luz nod and then they all turn to Amity. 

"I'll have to see if I can go somehow first, but I'm good to go otherwise.

"Hey, if you can't it's no big deal, we can figure out something else to do," Willow assures her, and Gus nods.

She looks down at Luz who just smiles up at her and Amity nods, smiling softly. It's been months since she started hanging out with all of them as part of the group, but sometimes it still feels strange after the years of being 'friends' with Boscha and the other girls in that clique. Having friends like Willow again, who actually listen and care, care about you and not what you can do for them.

"We still all have to get permission too," Gus reminds.

"Oh, right. Hey, mom!" Luz leans her head back and shouts making the others wince at her volume. She barely flinches when she realizes what's come out of her mouth, and she knows her friends have noticed the slip but they have the good grace not to say anything about it, they’ve talked about it. 

Every day it becomes more common, and she pushes aside any guilt that comes with it. For all intents and purposes, Eda is her mom, she’s coming to accept that, and she's realized by watching that she actually seems to like it when she calls her that, though she tries to hide it. Something she kept forgetting to talk to Lilith about.

Barely half a second goes by before Eda is yelling back from the kitchen.

"What?" 

"Can I go camping with everyone tomorrow morning?" 

Eda sticks her head out of the kitchen to look at them.

"Where and for how long?" 

Luz's lips twitch up at that. Used to, she could just leave the house and not come back for hours, and Eda wasn't bothered. For the most part, she still could, but with every week that goes by she starts to ask Luz where she's going and when she thinks she'll be back; like a parent.

"We haven't decided yet, and we'll be back Monday." 

"You gonna be there?" She turns to Willow who blinks at her. 

"Yes?" 

"Fine then." She nods.

"What does Willow being there have to do with it?" Gus asks, brow furrowed between his eyes. 

"Someone with some sense has to be in charge." Eda crossed her arms and shrugged.

"I have sense!" Amity frowns.

"Me too!" Luz sits up enough to roll into her stomach to look at her.

"Luz, you let yourself get carried away too easily, and you…" her eyes turn to Amity. "Will go along with just about anything Luz asks you too." She grins wickedly at them and both turn bright red at the declaration. Willow and Gus both snort and snicker at them.

"So yeah, if flowers is going, you can go, and dinner's gonna be ready soon." With that, Eda turned and walked back into the kitchen, leaving two embarrassed teens and two barely holding it together.

"I'm working on the getting carried away thing…," Luz mumbles. Dropping back down, her chin smacking against Amity's thigh with a grunt and she pats her head.

Amity has no words for her own defense. She certainly doesn't let Luz do anything… too stupid, but she can't deny, no matter how embarrassed it makes her, that Luz has a way of getting her to agree to things. She's just too cute to say no too sometimes.

They discussed the plan a little bit more until Eda is calling them all for dinner.

Dinner at the owl house is a loud, messy affair of constant talking and laughing with plenty of food with King standing on the table and laying claim to anything in sight while sometimes the sisters argue. Other times she talks to Lilith. Their interactions ease more every day.

It's loud, bright, warm, and homey.

Which makes going home to Blight manor all the more depressing. It's so quiet most of the time. 

Amity closes her front door softly, based on the oppressive quiet, she knows her parents aren't home. The twins are probably in their rooms. Her feet make quiet taps on the wooden stairs, echoing off the cavernous halls.

She's sure she's not going to be able to get permission to go but didn't want to say as much in front of everyone else and bring down the mood. 

She waited till Gus and Willow had left when she and Luz had been laying on her bed, door open, of course, to say as much.

“It’s okay, mi amor, we all get it. It’s not like we can’t figure out something else to do if you can’t go. We can all be together anywhere,” she had assured her, running her fingers through mint hair, but Amity still feels bad.

She sits at her desk and pulls out her scroll, sending Luz a quick message that she was home safe and sound. She smiled to herself as a message immediately came back.

_'Good, Gus and Willow said they can go. What about you, mi Amor?'_

_'Let me ask…'_

She swipes away her girlfriend's message and opens the contacts, scrolling down to her mother's.

She looks at it a long time, finger hovering over her mother’s contact. She has to at least try, she could tell how much Luz wants to go, but she knows that there's no way she can cover her tracks for two days, even if the twins helped, she doesn’t want to ask that much of them anyway. They would be in just as much trouble as her if they’re caught. She’s managed to cover a few things over the last few months by telling them of her rekindled relationship with Willow.

Though maybe revealed, would be a more appropriate word, because she didn’t tell them, so much as her mother found out from Boscha’s parents after the grudgby match. Surprisingly, they hadn’t been upset at all.

Willow had proven herself to be plenty powerful and capable since switching into the plant track, in fact, she was the head of the track now. Her mother was actually thrilled by the turn of events. 

She rolls her eyes at that, bitterness welling up in the pit of her stomach. Willow had been her best friend, her only real friend for so long, and then her mother had made her get rid of her and now she was glad they were friends again!

Her fist clenched atop the desk, nails digging into the flesh of her palm as she stared darkly at the contact still sitting open on the screen. 

She had thought that wound had long been scarred over, but here it was, bleeding again. 

She's so lost in thought she doesn't hear her bedroom door open or the soft footsteps approaching.

"Hey, Mittens."

Amity shrieks, nearly jumping out of her skin as her sister grins at her.

"What!?" she snaps, snarling, lip curled and fangs poking out and Emira blinks, gold eyes glancing at the scroll and seeing the contact pulled up and understanding flashes behind her eyes.

"You okay?" she asks. Amity stares back at her for a second before turning back to the scroll and she's tense for a few long seconds before she sighs, deflating.

"I'm fine…," she finally mumbles sourly.

"Mhmm" Emira hums and struts across the room, and uninvited, as she did most things, sits on Amity's bed and leans back on her hands to regard her sister from across the room. "Want to try that again, but less morose?" She cocks her head.

Amity gives her a tired and annoyed look.

"Come on, just tell me." Her sister smiles. Amity sighs again.

"My friends want to go camping tomorrow, and they're all really excited about it, especially Luz, but I don't think there's any way I'm going to be able to get permission to go…" she frowns down at her knees.

"Yeah, that is a problem…," Emira hums, looking up at the ceiling thoughtfully and Amity grunts in response. They're quiet for a long couple of minutes before Emira smiles to herself and looks back down at her sister.

"What if we told her something else?" she says slyly. 

"Like?" Amity arches a brow at the devious look on her older sister's face, one she's intimately familiar with.

"Like, what if we asked if we could go camping with my buddies from the illusion track?" She says and Amity frowns, brows furrowing between her eyes.

"How does that help?" Amity asks.

"Because, oops, my friends couldn't make it, but we ended up running into some classmates from school and camped with them instead, and since we got all the way out there, we decided to just stay." She grins and slowly Amity's doubtful face morphs into something hopeful.

"That… could work," she says, sitting up. 

"So?" Emira asks, grinning. 

The twins have been more than helpful ever since she and Luz started dating, though especially since her and her girlfriend's little encounter with the two upperclassmen from the illusion track, but something about Emira's smile, for the first time in a while tells Amity that her sister wants something out of this. Maybe she's just being paranoid and hates to look a gift horse in the mouth by calling out her sister's intentions, but rather than just covering for her, Emira would have to spend the next two days camping with them, and that is suspicious.

"What's in it for you?" she asks finally, and Emira gasps in mock offense, resting a hand on her chest, and Amity immediately knows what she's hit the nail on the head.

"I can't just do something nice for my baby sister?" She bats her eyes at her. Amity glares.

"You can, but offering to spend the next two days camping with my friends and girlfriend seems a little bit of a stretch for you…"

Emira laughs.

"Quid pro quo, Mittens." Emira holds up a finger. "I don't see why we can't both get what we want," she starts. "If Viney happened to be one of the classmates we ran into, what would it hurt?" 

"That's it? You want your girlfriend to come with us?" Amity blinks, wondering why she didn't think of that, of course, that's what her sister wanted.

"That's it." She nods.

"Let me ask the others," Amity says, turning back to her scroll and typing out a quick message in their group chat.

All three agreements come in within five minutes. She expected Luz's answer, Viney was a friend of hers after all.

"They said yes." She turns back to Emira who brightens up and draws a spell circle, her own scroll appearing and she hits a button before holding it up to her ear.

"Hello, Mother…," she starts and Amity turns back to her own scroll, half-listening to the conversation between her mom and sister, it's fairly quick and within a minute she hears. "Yes, thank you." She's grinning and then it's over and she sets it on the bed. "We're good to go," she says and smiles brighter at the way Amity's face lights up with a joy that has been far too infrequent until she started dating Luz.

Amity turns back to her scroll and announces she can go to cheering messages from her friends and Luz.

The exchange a few more messages in the group chat, finalizing plans before it goes silent, but then her personal chat with Luz pings.

_'See you tomorrow. Love you, G'night!'_

She quickly types back the sentiment and spells her scroll away before turning to her sister.

"We're going to meet at the owl house at seven," she tells her, and Emira nods before making a call. This one's so vastly different in tone from the one with their mother that it almost causes whiplash.

"Hey, honey," Emira says into her scroll and Amity snorts, making her sister glare at her and she just grins

Turnabout is fair play, she thinks, and Emira seems to come to this conclusion as well aa she huffs silently and carries on her conversation with her girlfriend.

She's smiling stupidly into the distance by the time she hangs up. 

"We're all set," she says, standing and making her way to the door.

"Thank you," Amity says to her back and Emira pauses in the doorway only long enough to smile over her shoulder.

"Don't mention it." Then she's gone, shutting the door behind her.

~ 

They are outside the owl house at seven sharp, backpacks packed and ready.

Amity and Emira are the first to arrive, the first wide awake and buzzing with excited energy and the second a walking zombie.

Lilith lets them in with the warning that Eda is still asleep, and they set their bags on the couch before Amity heads quietly up the stairs to Luz's room. 

The door is hanging open when she peeks around the corner. Luz is facing away from her, shoving things into her bag and humming happily to herself. Amity smiles to herself as she sneaks quietly, even in hiking boots, across the room and wraps her arms around Luz's waist, making her jump.

"Morning, querida," she mumbles, pressing her face in between sharp shoulder blades.

"Hey! You scared me," Luz chuckled, resting her hands over the ones wrapped around her.

"Sorry," is her muffled response. Luz spins in her hold to throw her arms over her shoulders and Amity meets her halfway in a good morning kiss. They might as well get it out now, as much as they know their friends don't really mind their sometimes, overly affectionate nature, much as they like to tease, and are all for them being themselves when they're with them, they don't want to subject them to it all weekend. That, and Emira was here, and the last thing Amity needs is her sister's constant teasing in the background for the whole trip, though it's probably going to happen anyway.

"All ready to go?" Luz asks, resting her forehead against Amity's.

"Yeah," she smiles and Luz grins.

"This is gonna be so much fun." She bounced on her toes, vibrating with energy, it's infectious.

"You're going to jinx us," she warms with a grin.

"Naw, sides, you heard Eda. Willow is there to 'keep us out of trouble'," she says mockingly and sticks out her tongue. Amity snickers.

"No one can keep you out of trouble," she says, and Luz grins, shrugging.

"Maybe, but you all do your best," she says and kisses the tip of her nose, making Amity go cross-eyed even as she giggles before she untangles herself from the witch and grabs her bag.

Amity steps back and finally, actually looks at her.

Luz is wearing jeans and boots like hers, but a weird button up purple shirt with black and white stripes making square patterns across it over a tank top.

She reaches out and pinches the sleeve between her thumb and finger. It's soft and slightly fuzzy.

"What is this?" She tilts her head. 

"Oh, it's a flannel. I accidentally packed it when I left for 'camp', but it's finally cold enough to wear it." Luz smiled, watching Amity rub the material between her fingers. "Flannel is actually supposed to be the material, but in the human world, any shirt with this pattern is usually called a flannel." She shrugged. She really wants to make a joke about lesbians and flannel given how interested Amity is in it, but she knows it would go over her head since they don't really define sexuality in the Boiling Isles.

_Damn it._

"Willow and Gus should be here soon," she reminds and Amity nods before they make their way back downstairs.

Emira looks up when they come back and lifts a hand in greeting.

"Hey, cutie." She smiles. Amity makes a face at her but doesn't say anything. Maybe early on when she first caught feelings for Luz, she had been worried about her liking her siblings more than her, but now the thought is so ridiculous to her she almost snorts. Besides that, Em has her own girlfriend and Ed has never shown any serious interest in anything but practical jokes and pastries. 

"Hey, Em." Luz greets as she sets her bag on the floor before walking into the kitchen. 

"Morning Lilith," Luz greets the elder Clawthorne sister as she grabs a bag off the counter and digs through the fridge for the foods she was taking with them, tossing it in the bag. She'll throw some ice in there and take some ice glyphs to keep it cold over the weekend, but that's about the extent of the magic they're going to be using since they don't have coolers on the Isles.

"Good morning, Luz. Are you all ready to go?" Lilith asks as she flips through a book and sips on her morning tea.

"Just about, we're just waiting for Gus and Willow," she says that she throws the rest of the food into the bag and picks it up.

"Well, have fun," Lilith says.

"We will." Luz grins and darts back out to the living room.

Just as she walks back into the room, a knock on the door makes her grin and she rushes over to open it, not wanting to subject her friends to Hooty any longer than necessary.

"Hey guys!" she greets. 

"Hey!" 

"Morning"

Willow looks ready to go, pack slung over her shoulders, and wearing a hat that reminded Luz of something she'd seen in movies of people on Safari, and Gus has a backpack nearly twice his size towering over him. He wobbles a little under its weight.

"You look… prepared?" Luz says and he beams at her.

"I wasn't sure what all we would need to camp like humans so I packed for any possibility," he says like it should be obvious. Luz chuckles to herself.

"Well, I guess we're just waiting for Viney then." Luz steps aside to let them in.

"She's going to meet us at the ribs," Emira says and stands from the couch.

"Well then what are we waiting for?" Gus bounced excitedly, though it appears more like a twitch under that weight of his bag.

"Let's go then!" Luz declares, pointing toward the door and everyone shoulders their bags and files out.

Eda chooses that moment to shuffle down the stairs, mid-yawn with King following behind her dragging a stuffed animal, eyes still closed.

"You kids ain't left yet?" she mumbles.

"Leaving now," Luz says, trotting over to hug the older witch.

"Stay outta trouble," she grumbles.

"No promises!" Luz grins up at her. Eda snorts at that.

"That's my girl." Eda smirks, reaching up to ruffle her hair before Luz leans down and kisses the top of King's head.

"Bye, ya little cutie," she says before turning and running out of the house. "Love you, bye!" she calls over her shoulder. 

Everyone is waiting in the yard for her and Hooty is beside himself with all the people to talk to. He's stretched out between them, unable to decide who he needs to talk to first, and gets uncomfortably close to Emira who is making a face at the house demon.

He stays clear of Amity.

"Sorry, Hooty, we gotta go," she tells him and he slumps.

"Aww… well okay!" He slithers back into the door and they shiver before hurrying away from the house.

Luz hurries to match stride with Amity and laces their fingers together. They smile at each other as they all trek through the woods.

They meet Viney at the base of the mountain they've planned to climb, she's leaning against a tree, bag at her feet.

"Sup guys." She waves.

Amity watches the change in her sister with fascination as she lights up and jumps into the shorter girl's arms, who grins and lifts her off the ground, making Emira giggle before she leans down to kiss her.

“There’s more of them…” Gus leans in to whisper horrifyingly to Willow, who chokes on a laugh, holding a fist to her mouth to stifle the noise.

"Caramba," Luz mumbles, drawing her gaze. “Is that what we’re like?” she says quietly to her and Amity laughs under her breath.

“Yes…” Gus and Willow answer. 

“Probably…” She smiles and Luz makes a face.

“Aww man… we are gross,” she grumbles and Amity laughs quietly behind her hand.

“Maybe, but you’re cuter than Viney,” she whispers, making Luz grin.

“So, we going or what?” Viney asks once she’s set the oldest Blight daughter down. 

"Onward!" Luz shouts, pointing to the faded, partly overgrown, dirt trail that leads up the mountain.

"To adventure!" Gus throws up a fist before the weight of his bag makes him teeter back and fall flat into the dirt. He kicks his legs helplessly. "Uh, little help?" 

They haul him up before making their way up the path.

Half the trees have grown bare in the last month, but some still stubbornly cling to their leaves even in mid-fall. 

They create a chorus of crunches under the teenagers' feet as they walk up the trail and climb over rocks. The air is cool even in the bright sunlight.

Gus struggles at times with his oversized bag.

"How long are we going to be camping for again?" Viney asks, looking at the giant blue backpack.

"Just till Monday," Luz assures her.

"Then what's with him?" She jerks a thumb at Gus.

"I packed for any situation, we're camping like humans after all!" He pants.

"Well, I know backpackers try and pack as little as possible so they can hike for longer, like, weeks. That's a little rougher than I think we want," Luz tells him. "You still might have packed a little much though…"

He just grunts and after a while, Willow trades him bags and carries on at the same place as before. 

By afternoon they reach the top and find the clearing on the cliffside where they plan to set up camp and drop their bags.

There's an empty stone circle in the middle, an abandoned fire pit, but not much else.

"This is perfect," Luz says, dropping her bag and running over to the edge on the far side of the clearing. They can see most of the Isles from here and she takes a deep breath of the crisp mountain air. She grins, the wind whipping at her face and tousling her hair.

She never did get that haircut from Eda. It's getting long, reaching down the back of her neck and laying over atop her head. She kinda likes it, Amity seems too also, so she's just letting it grow, though she has had Eda trim the ends when they get a little ragged.

She enjoys the way the cold air feels in it right now.

"Luz, come help us get set up!" Willow calls and she turns with a grin.

"I'm coming!" She walks back over to where everyone is digging through their bags. 

Willow, Gus, and Viney have started setting up their tents while the Blight sisters watch, realizing that the two of them have forgotten one essential piece of camping equipment.

"You two gonna set up your tents?" Luz asks, looking at them. Both turn slightly pink.

"Say, we don't… have… tents… what would we do?" Emira asks, and across the clearing Viney snickers. 

"You can sleep in mine, babe," she calls.

"Oh, nevermind, good luck, Mittens." Emira grins before hurrying over to her girlfriend to help her set up the dark green tent.

"Hey!" Amity shouts at her back, face red. Luz laughs.

"It's okay, mi amor, you can sleep with me," Luz says with a grin, and Amity nods, carefully avoiding the look she knows Willow is sending them as she sets up her own tent.

Luz pulls out the poles and tarp and they get to work putting it together.

"Does it go here?" Luz mumbles, shoving a pole into a slot.

"No, I think it goes over here." She points, looking at the directions with a furrowed brow. They squabble lightly about the placement before getting things in the right place.

It takes them nearly half an hour to put the thing together, but they eventually manage.

"Perfect." Luz smiles, standing back to eye their work.

"Perfect is a strong word… I think we're missing a pole…," Amity mumbles, still looking at the paper.

"Eh, it's fine." Luz waved a hand and Amity hummed.

"So long as you two aren't too rough in there it'll be fine." Emira is suddenly standing behind them, making them jump. They both turn red at the implication. 

"Don't you have something better to do than bother us?" Amity snaps at her grinning sister.

"Not at the moment, no," she says.

Amity growls at her.

"Hey, Luz!" Gus calls. "Where's the bathroom?"

"Uhh…" she gestures to the woods.

"Okay, I know we're supposed to be camping like humans, but no." Emira huffs and spins a finger and an outhouse appears at the edge of the clearing.

"Thank you!" Gus calls before running over to it.

"Fair" Luz shrugs. That was always her least favorite part of camping anyway. "Well, I'm on to my next order of business!" she declares and digs through her bag, pulling out an axe.

"Where did you get an axe?" Amity questions.

"Eda" is the simple answer. They can hear Willow sigh across the camp.

"Of course…," Amity mumbles. "And what are you going to do with an axe?" She holds her hand out to the tool.

"I am going to chop down a tree!" She slings it over her shoulder and puffs out her chest.

"Why?" Amity stresses and Luz shrugs.

"Well, we need something to sit on right? I've also kinda always wanted to…" she grins. She looked around the clearing before finding one, maybe sixteen feet tall, barren, and about two feet wide, autumn had stripped it of all its leaves already, just beyond the tree line. "That one!" She says, pointing the axe at it.

Amity crosses her arms and looks at her.

"Don't worry, mi amor, I'll be careful," she promises and somehow that doesn't make Amity feel any better, but she just sighs and she knows this is exactly what Eda was talking about last night.

"Luz…," Willow says.

"It's fine, you all worry too much!" She turns and heads for the tree in question.

"Hold up, killer!" Viney chased after her. "Let me show you how to start it so it doesn't fall onto camp." 

"You know how to chop down trees?" Luz asks.

"My family owns a beast raising farm, sometimes it's easier to clear a few by hand then by magic since the spells are for large areas." She shrugs and turns to the tree and explains to Luz how to cut an angle at the bottom of the trunk so they can control where it falls.

The Blight sisters watch as Viney hacks a notch into the wood before handing it over to Luz and giving her tips on grip and stance before leaving her to it.

"Let's get started on lunch." Emira nudges her sister and she hesitates, afraid the second she turns away her girlfriend is going to lop off one of her limbs but eventually nods and they start digging through the bag of food Luz brought, the echoing of the axe hitting the tree sounding at regular intervals across camp.

Willow and Gus wander off to collect wood for the fire pit while they do.

The sisters and Viney finish unpacking before starting on lunch.

The mountain is quiet, except for Luz's chopping, and Amity relaxes in the calming atmosphere as they put together sandwiches for everyone.

She decides to take one to Luz when they are all finished and walks over, sandwich in hand, she rounds a tree to where Luz is and freezes, dropping the sandwich into the dirt at her feet.

Luz is still working at the tree with long swings of the axe.

She must have gotten hot, because she's taken off the flannel and has it tied around her waist, leaving her in her tank top as she works to chop the tree down.

Sweat is dripping down her brow, making her hair stick to her face.

Amity's whole body heats up, watching her girlfriend swing the axe with a grunt. Has Luz always had those muscles she can see flex just beneath the dark, flushed skin of her arms and shoulders?

Luz stops with a sigh and mumbles something to herself as she wipes the back of her arm across her forehead before going back to it.

"I'm going to go see what's taking Amity," Emira says as she stands and walks over to where she knows Luz is, still working on the tree by the sound of it. She peeks around a tree and sees Luz still working and Amity standing a few feet away, watching, face red, and seemingly frozen.

Emira watches for a second before she realizes what's happening and grins before walking up quietly behind her sister and leans down to whisper in her ear.

"See something you like?" 

Birds fly out of the trees, startled by the scream that echoes through the woods.

~

Amity sits in front of the fire pit, arms crossed and scowling at the dirt.

Emira is still snickering to herself fifteen minutes later, it's a lot better than the gut-wrenching laughter from earlier.

Viney is smirking and shaking her head, choosing much like Luz to not interject herself between the stuff that goes on between the Blight siblings. 

Willow and Gus have returned and they wonder what happened, but based on the dark look Amity is sending Emira they choose not too.

They eat their sandwiches and are almost through when they hear the sounds of loud splintering and cracking followed by Luz shouting.

"Timber!"

Then the ground shakes and shudders with a loud crash and snapping noises. They all jump up and run to check on their friend, but before they can get there they hear her loud whoops of joy, which eases their worry.

When they round the trees they're treated to the sight of Luz, standing with one booted foot on the felled tree, axe slung over her shoulder and her other hand fisted against her hip. She looks sweaty and exhausted but is grinning brightly.

"I did it!" she declares triumphantly. 

"Nice!" Viney grins at her.

"Good job Luz!" Gus cheers. Willow is smiling but shaking her head.

Emira holds up her scroll and takes a quick photo, tapping a few buttons.

Amity feels her scroll vibrate and ignores it for now.

"Good job, now come eat," she says, hand on her hip.

"Yes, dear!" Luz grins to herself and Amity pinks at her teasing.

They make their way back to the clearing, but Amity lags behind and spells her scroll out and opens the message from her sister.

A photo of Luz comes up, standing triumphantly over the fallen tree, sweaty hair pushed back from her forehead, and axe slung over her shoulder, the rays of sunlight filtering through the foliage are lighting her from the front, she looks almost heroic. No doubt copying something she saw somewhere. 

She rolls her eyes but smiles.

She's so cute…

She taps it and saves it to her album.


	2. Chapter 2

After lunch, they rolled Luz's tree into camp to sit next to the firepit, and once it’s slotted in place Viney gives Luz a break and uses the axe to hack the limbs off the tree flush with the trunk for them to sit on later

Once it’s done Luz flops back on it longwise and sighs in relief, arms and legs hanging limply over the sides of the trunk. Her arms feel like jelly and she can already feel the sore spots that are sure to be raised up blisters on her palms before the day is through. That always looked so much easier in every movie she’s ever seen; she should know by now that movies make everything look easier. She closed her eyes and let herself go limp, she was tired and it was only late afternoon. 

The cool air has chilled the sweat on her skin and goosebumps are raised all across her arms, making her shiver, but she’s still wet and doesn’t want to put her flannel back on till she’s dried. 

“We’re going to take a walk.” She hears Emira call and she can only guess that she means her and Viney.

She feels more than she hears the presence suddenly next to her. She’s pretty sure she already knows who it is, but it’s confirmed when a cloth is being wiped across her forehead, and as exhausted as she feels she still has the energy to smile and open her eyes to look up at Amity who is dabbing at her forehead, brows furrowed between her eyes. 

“Happy now?” she asks, distracted, as she carefully wipes at her face and neck.

“Yes,” She grins and lets herself be fussed over for a minute. When Amity is satisfied Luz hauls herself up to sit next to her and takes the cloth from ber and wipes down her arms before pulling on her flannel. Gus hops onto the log and Willow sits next to him. 

“Luz, can you teach me how to fish?” 

“You guys fish on the Isles.” she cocked her head.

“Yeah, but we do it with magic, I want to learn the human way.” He grins. “I even got this human fishing device from Eda!” He runs over to his bag and digs through it, almost disappearing inside it before pulling out a disassembled fishing pole. “It’s got these three sticks and a string, is it some kind of net?” He holds it out to Luz, looking at it. It seemed to be in pretty good shape, unlike some of the things in Eda’s human trash pile reserves.

She took it and popped it together, much to his fascination.

“It’s a fishing pole, you put bait on this hook and throw it into the water and wait for fish to bite it,” she explains, handing it back.

“Oooh… show me?” he whispered, looking up at her.

“We need water…” 

“There’s a river not too far from here, just a little way down the mountain,” Willow said.

“Let’s go. ” Luz grinned and they followed Willow down the trail away from camp till they found themselves standing on the bank of a river.

"So, how do we do this?" Gus asks.

"Well, first we need some bait for the hook…" Luz hums, as she starts digging through the bushes before she finds what she's looking for and comes back with a bug in hand and hooks it before standing back. "Now just throw the hook out in the water." 

He whips it back and everyone ducks out of the way as the hook flies around, trying not to get stabbed before he flings it into the water with a gentle plop

"Now what?"

"Now we just wait, eventually, maybe, a fish will bite it and you reel it in." She shows him the small spinning handle and Gus gives it an experimental twist.

"Ooh.." 

They sit on the bank next to him and wait.

While it's not the most interesting thing to watch, it is at least relaxing and Luz dips her fingers into the water. It's cold and makes her fingers tingle. Amity sits next to her leaning her shoulder against hers and Willow contents herself with some flowers still growing beneath one of the trees. Gus looks fully concentrated on his task watching the place the string disappears into the water. 

Luz feels like she's about to fall asleep when Gus shouts.

"It's moving! He jumps up and the end of the pole is bobbing rapidly. 

"Reel it in!" Luz grins, jumping to her feet. Gus jerks back on the pole, spinning the reel before it jerks forward almost yanking him into the river. Luz grabs him, digging her heels into the dirt, and still, they're sliding forward. Amity and Willow grab them and the pole bows dangerously. 

Gus jerks back and with a splash, something breaks the surface of the water. Something big and scaly with legs and a mouthful of teeth.

"That's not a fish!" Willow shouts and Gus drops the pole as It moves toward the shore.

"Run!" Amity yells and they turn and dart back into the woods.

They don't turn to see if it gives chase, they just run until they're back at camp, panting and gasping. 

"Fishing… is more dangerous than I expected," Gus wheezes.

"No more, 'fishing like humans'," Willow pants, and they all nod.

They wander around the woods near camp for a while after, doing their own things, exploring the different nooks and crannies, but stay clear of the river. 

Amity and Willow are looking at some rare plant Willow found and Gus is jotting down some notes about his attempt at fishing the human way. 

Luz wanders over to sit on the cliffside at the far side of camp, legs dangling over the edge. The sun is starting to set over the boiling sea between the ribs that tower over the much smaller mountain they have chosen to climb, it’s cold in the shadows, but as the sun moves, it throws their camp into the long orange rays or twilight. She closes her eyes and despite the cold air, the dwindling rays of the sun on her skin keep her warm.

"Mind if I join you?" 

She opened her eyes and looked up at Amity standing over her, hands clasped behind her back and smiling down at her.

“I never mind.” 

She settled down beside her on the ground, and leaned back on her hands, staring out at the forest and sea stretched out in front of them, blanketed in the warm, golden red, yellows, and oranges of Autumn.

“Having fun?” Luz asked.

“Other than the monster in the river and worrying about whether or not you’re going to chop something off with an axe?” she asked with a little grin. “Then yeah, wonderful,” she said. Luz nudged her with her shoulder.

“We didn’t get eaten and I didn’t chop anything off so…” 

“Yet…,” she mumbled, looking at Luz out of the corner of her eye and grinning. Luz stuck her tongue out at her and Amity rolled her eyes.

“I’m glad you were able to come, this has been a lot of fun already!" Luz grinned at her, lacing their fingers together behind them

"You three could have gone without me if I could 't go," she said.

"And leave you all alone, mi amor?" 

"It was just a couple of days, Luz." Amity huffed at her. "We're quite capable of doing things separately."

"Yeah, and if you didn't want to go we might have, but I wasn't going to go without you when I knew you wanted to go," she argued, frowning. Amity smiled at that. 

"Thanks…," she mumbled, and Luz brightened. They watch the sunset, talking quietly until it's all but dipped behind the horizon.

When Emira and Viney wander back into camp Gus tells the two older teens his epic story of witch versus beast at the river, with a few embellishments of course.

They cook and eat dinner around the fire after which Luz pulls so.ething out of her bag she's been saving for such an occasion. She couldn't believe her luck when she had found these in a pile of Eda's human trash reserves.

"As is human camping tradition, I'm going to introduce you to the ancient Human art of roasting marshmallows!" She held up a bag of white objects for everyone to look at. "Everyone grab a stick!" Gus nearly tripped over himself racing to find a stick, he was always ready to learn more things about humans.

She handed out the marshmallows and showed them all how to roast them. Amity set her ablaze right off the bat and Emira snatched Viney's perfectly cooked one when she wasn't looking, while Willow squished hers experimentally between her fingers. 

"These are amazing!" Gus said, wide eyes as he shoved a second in his mouth.

"Better enjoy them now then, you guys don't have them here, so who knows if you'll ever have another one," Luz said, sticking one on each end of her two-pronged stick and holding it out over the fire, watching Amity glare at a second one she had turned to charcoal out of the corner of her eye.

"Eda hasn't had any luck with finding a new portal?" Willow asked and Luz shook her head, turning her marshmallows. 

"Nope," she said, popping the 'p'. "But I mean… I'm not really worried about it." she shrugged.

"You don't want to go home?" Viney asked as she stuck a second treat on her stick for herself, shooting her smirking girlfriend a look.

Luz made a face and Amity or one of her friends was just about to jump in and change the subject when Luz shook her head.

"Honestly?" she asked, looking up. "Not really. I miss my mom… but that's the only thing I miss…

"What about your friends and stuff?" Viney cocked her head.

"I didn't have any."

"Oh… bummer." Is all the older girl can say.

"It's okay." She blows the flame off the marshmallows and holds the stick out to Amity, who blinks at it before smiling at her and taking one and popping it in her mouth. She hums delightedly at the sugary, smokey, treat, making Luz grin.

"What else do humans do when they camp?" Gus asks around a mouthful of marshmallows. Luz leaned back and hummed, pulling her marshmallow off the stick.

"Well, usually telling scary stories around the campfire is one, but the stories we tell are usually about things that actually exist here, like ghosts, and werewolves." she laughed before shoving it In her mouth.

"Ooh, I know one…" Viney grinned.

They took turns telling stories well into the night, and she laughed at Gus's

"The DMV?" She snorted.

"From the stories I've heard about humans, it's apparently a terrifying place!" He defended. She only snickered.

At some point she noticed Amity shivering a little and she shrugged off her flannel and draped it over her shoulders. Amity blinked, looking up as the warm material was laid across her cold arms. Luz just smiled at her. 

Everyone else was too engrossed in Willow's story to notice them.

"Thanks," she mumbled quietly. "Won't you get cold?"

"Naw, I'm okay," she whispered back, even if her arms were already starting to chill.

Amity hummed, frowning to herself before scooting closer on the log to lean against her.

The warmth pressed against Luz's side was rivaled only by the one that was now filling her chest. She smiled to herself as she wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's back, holding her close.

After a while, they decided to call it a night.

With 'good night's' all around Gus and Willow disappeared inside their tents.

"I'm going to change," Amity said to her before standing and disappearing inside their own. 

Emira mumbled something to Viney before doing the same. 

"Hey, Luz, can I ask you something?" The older girl asked once they were alone.

"Shoot"

"You said you didn't have any friends in the human world, how come?" She cocked her head questioningly. 

"Oh…," Luz said.

"If you don't want to talk about it…" Viney started.

"No, it's fine." She held up a hand. "I was a weirdo." She shrugged. "No one wanted to hang out with me 'cause they thought I was weird." She frowned.

"You're not weird… well, any weirder than the rest of us," the older girl chuckled, and Luz laughed too.

"Well, I'm still pretty strange for here too, mostly just because I'm the only human, but I'm kind of a freak by human standards, I guess." 

"Meh, humans don't know what they're talking about." Viney snorted.

"Heh, thanks…" 

"Luz" 

Luz craned her neck back to see Amity, standing outside the tent. She was changed into her pajama pants and a t-shirt, with Luz's flannel, pulled on over it and her hair was down. Something about both those things made her heart beat a little faster in her chest.

"You can come change."

"Okay. Night, Viney," Luz said as she stood.

"Night"

"I'll be quick," Luz promised her before ducking into the tent and quickly changing into her own new pajama pants Eda had bought her. She shoved her jeans and boots into the far corner of the tent before poking her head out.

"Bedtime, mi amor." Luz grinned and Amity rolled her eyes but climbed in.

The tent rattled a little as they shuffled into her sleeping bag, something else Amity had forgotten along with her tent. Not that Luz minded at all as she snuggled up behind Amity, wrapped around her like a koala.

"Comfortable?"Amity asked, and she could practically hear the grin in her voice.

"Mhmm" Luz grinned.

It was quiet, the only sounds coming from the woods and their breathing, but after a little bit there was a noise coming from somewhere across the camp and Luz opened her eyes in the dark. 

"Do you hear that?" she whispered. 

"Yeah…" if she listened hard enough she could almost hear what sounded like her sister and Amity had a terrible thought and groaned.

"What?"

"Pleases, please don't let them be having sex…," Amity mumbled to herself, not intending for Luz to hear, but the choking sound against her neck that followed the quiet plea told her she had.

"I hadn't even thought about that…," Luz mumbled, burying her now hot face in Amity's neck. "Not with the rest of us around…"

"I'd never put anything past my sister…" was the quiet, annoyed reply. 

Luz couldn't help but laugh loudly at that, despite how embarrassed the idea made her.

"Hey, some of us are trying to sleep!" Gus's voice cut across camp, and Luz quieted herself.

"Sorry!" She yelled. Then the whole camp was quiet again and Amity sighed in relief.

"Good night," she mumbled.

"Night, mi amor," Luz mumbled snuggling into her back.

It didn't take long before they were out.

~ ~

Luz woke to the blue-gray light of early morning trying to light up their tent. She blinked groggily up at the ceiling, somehow she had rolled over onto her back in the night and now it was Amity wrapped tightly around her.

She really had to go to the bathroom…

She also didn't want to wake Amity...

Slowly, inch by inch, she managed to slide herself out of her girlfriend's grip. She grumbled, curling up in the empty space Luz left.

She chuckled quietly to herself and pulled the blanket back over her.

Luz crawled quietly out of the tent when she finally managed to extract herself from Amity’s hold and yawned, stretching her arms out over her head.

She took her jeans, and boots, and ran to the bathroom.

The air was crisp and cold, the sun was only just beginning to rise, casting long tendrils of light snaking across the ground, between the trees, casting shadows over the camp.

When she came out she reached up to rub her fist against an eye, trying to wipe away the last remnants of sleep. As soon as she does, she winces; her whole upper body is stiff and sore. Everywhere from her shoulders to her forearms aches.

“The tree was a mistake…,” she yawned, squeezing one of her sore biceps. 

“Feeling it today, huh?” A voice chuckled and Luz glanced over toward the firepit where Viney was sitting on the log, poking at the newly rekindled fire. 

“Oh yeah,” she grumbled as she walked over and plopped down on the trunk. 

“Been there…” Viney nodded, scratching the back of her head. "You need some numberries. They actually grow wild around here, they're pretty tasty, and they dull your pain a little, I used to use them back before I started in the healing track after a hard day, couple will do ya, but hey, didn't peg you to be an early riser."

"I don't always get out of bed early, but I'm usually awake." She shrugged. It was a little chilly out here without her flannel, but there was no way she was going to be able to pry it off Amity, not that she would want to. She'd looked so cute and warm in her shirt.

She'd need to watch it, or it might disappear like the hoodie Amity had all but claimed as her own, like, a month ago; she knew she probably wasn't getting that back. She moved back to the bag sitting outside their tent and pulled out a dark green, long-sleeved shirt, and slipped it on over her tank top. "What are you doin up?"

"I'm always up with the sun," Viney says when she comes back and plops herself back down on the log. "I usually have to get up and help feed the beasts before school." She shrugs. "... and Em snores." She grinned and Luz barked a laugh, quickly trying to stifle the noise since all their friends were still sleeping.

They sit there a while as the sun slowly rises up over the trees, talking about their shared classes and anything that comes to mind.

"Emira told you about me and Amity before the fight with those guys in the illusion track, didn't she?" Luz asks and Viney nods. 

"Yeah, actually, I knew back before you guys even started dating, She told me about Amity's crush on you, and she kept me up to date as you played secret admirer after she figured out it was you." she chuckled, her girlfriend could be a bit of a gossip, but there had been no one else for her to tell.

"Of course… man, everyone but me did know." Luz shook her head, smiling ruefully to herself.

"Eh, don't beat yourself up about it. It took a while to figure out that Em wasn't just trying to play a joke on me or flirting that way she does with everyone." Viney waved a hand. That did make Luz feel a little better.

She made a face, looking back at her and Viney's tent before scooting closer to her friend and leaning in.

"Can I ask you something?" she asked quietly. Noticing the change in the younger teens' demeanor, Viney just nodded, leaning in close.

"Does Em talk to you about their…. family life?" she asks, unsure. Viney frowned, also glancing at the tents.

"Their parents, you mean?" she asks, just as quietly, and Luz nods. "Sometimes, yeah. It's a… touchy subject, ya know?"

"Tell me about it… What do you think? I've never met them," Luz questions.

"Me neither, and I don't think either one of us would want to if we can help it. I don't hear very good things about mama Blight." 

"Me neither…" Luz frowns. 

"As for what I think, I think that all three of them are put underway to much pressure and stress. They're supposed to be perfect all the time for everyone and I know how much it weighs on Em." Viney sighed, leaning back to stare into the fire.

"Yeah… I mean,… she makes Amity dye her hair to match the twins… who does that?!" Luz snarled, throwing out her arms, wincing as her muscles protested the quick movement.

"Yeah, I heard about that. Em felt really guilty about it," the older girl said.

"I just wish… I could do something, anything to help make it better…," Luz mumbled, laying her forearms across her knees and slumping forward.

"I feel ya, but the thing is, we would only make things harder on them, this one's beyond us," Viney tells her, and Luz slumps further, grunting an agreement, she knows exactly how the underclassmen feels. There isn't much she wouldn't do to help Emira somehow. So she does what she can and it seems Luz needs to be reminded of what she does too.

"Hey, maybe there's nothing you can do about mama and papa Blight, but you gotta remember all the stuff you do do." She smiles and Luz looks up at her questioningly. "Em's told me she can't remember the last time Amity seemed so happy as she has since you two started dating. You give her a place to go, someone to talk to. Someone who loves her just for how she is, not what she has to pretend to be. Seems to me you make her pretty happy already." 

A smile works its way onto Luz's face at that. Viney is right. Amity's home life is beyond her, she knows that, but she's there for her girlfriend, always; and Amity knows it.

"I guess you're right. She makes me happy too." She looks up at and Viney is grinning back at her.

Scratching and rustling from behind them make them both turn to look. Luz's pale violet tent is rustling and swaying. Then the zipper comes undone and Amity climbs out, hair still down and wearing the flannel shirt open over her sleeping clothes and barefoot. She looks around, squinting against the harsh sunlight that is now shining over the trees onto camp until they land on Luz.

Luz smiles at her and Amity pads over and plops onto the log next to her on the opposite side from Viney and leans her head tiredly on her shoulder, wrapping an arm around hers and Luz grins and presses a kiss to her head.

"Buenos días, mi amor," she mumbled against her hair. Amity hums, seeming to think for a few seconds before mumbling back.

"Mañana" 

Her accent is thick and stilted and it makes Luz snicker under her breath most days but this morning it only makes her feel warm and fuzzy. Amity tries to work Spanish into her speech more every day to remember, and practice and Luz doesn't think Amity knows how much that means to her, to have even just one person with whom she can talk to in the language, even if it is more akin to speaking to a toddler with Amity's current level, but it's progress.

"Not awake yet?" She grinned and Amity grunts, huffing against her. 

They stay there a while as the rest of the camp begins to wake and emerge from their tents.

There's a lot of grumbling and groaning as they get moving but everyone is well and wide awake after breakfast as they head off hiking in the woods.

It's a beautiful autumn day as they climb over fallen trees and large rocks, taking pictures of the view with their scrolls.

Luz drags behind some, her body aches after her tree chopping yesterday. 

They stopped to rest at one point when Viney walked over.

"Still feeling it, huh?" She chuckles as Luz grunts. "Here" she holds out her hands, sitting in her palm are a handful of dark green berries with little white spots. "Found you some numberries. Should dull you some." She drops them into Luz's open palm.

Luz glances at her girlfriend who is talking to Em and Willow. She knows she's not supposed to just eat things, but it's been quite some time since she had a reaction to anything and Eda, and Lilith was probably right, her body's finally becoming used to the different foods on the Isles.

She pops them in her mouth and chews, as promised, they are pretty tasty.

"Thanks, Viney," she says after she swallows.

"No prob" 

They get back on the trail, heading back in the direction of the camp. 

It's about a half-hour later, when they're almost there that she starts to feel weird, and says as much.

“I feel weird…,” she mumbles, pulling her hand free from Amity's and laying it over her stomach. Amity looks at her and frowns. Sweat is starting to bead up on her forehead and the skin between her eyes furrows.

“You don’t look well…,” her girlfriend mumbles as they stop. 

Her limbs don't hurt anymore, they actually feel kind of rubbery, which should have been her first clue that something isn't right, but by then she feels disconnected; strange.

Especially when her vision starts to swim in pretty, bright colors, that make her giggle.

Amity blinks at her and is immediately concerned when she laughs to herself and is staring off into the air with an awed face.

"Luz?" 

“Huh?” she looks at her, but she doesn’t really seem to see her.

“Are you okay?” she asks, but Luz’s attention is already elsewhere, looking up in the trees in wonderment and she stops, looking up at the cliffs they're passing by and she sees what Luz sees. 

A griffin nest, with baby griffins in it. She can see the wheels turning in Luz's head; but not quick enough.

She mumbles something that Amity can’t hear and then darts forward and is climbing up the rocks toward the nest. 

“Luz!” Amity shouts, making everyone else turn back to them.

Luz fumbles over the rocks, scrabbling her way up the stones, completely deaf to her friends shouting at her from the ground. She has the suddenly unquenchable desire to pet the little creatures in the nest, who appear to her as bright little blots of color.

“What is she doing?” Emira asks Amity as she looks up at her sister’s girlfriend with wide eyes. 

“I…” 

“Uh-oh, she’s going after those baby griffins!” Viney sees the newborns straight away, and where there are baby Griffins a viciously, protective mother is sure to be close behind.

“What, why!?” Willow shouts turning to Amity.

“I don’t know!” Amity shouted back. “She said she didn’t feel good and then she started acting strange.”

“Babe, grab her!” Viney turns to Emira, who draws a spell circle and casts a lasso of blue light, tossing it around Luz. She yanks her off the cliff face, flinging her into the grass before they can even think of trying to catch her.

“Luz!” Her friends shout as she smacks into the ground and rolls to a stop a few yards away in the grass.

"Sorry!" Emira shouts and Viney winces at that landing.

Before they can even make it to her she pops back up like she’s spring-loaded, making them jump back and they can see it now. Her pupils are blown wide, nearly pushing out all of the brown. 

"Whoo, dizzy…," she mumbles, looking around at everything like it's the first time she's ever seen it.

They glance at each other worriedly, taking their eyes off her just long enough for Luz to go take off running down the trail.

"Luz, stop!" They call, giving chase. They forget just how fast the human is as she speeds down the trail, but she seems uncoordinated and stumbles a little over rocks and roots. Emira gets close enough for her fingers to brush the back of her collar but then Luz seems to right herself and darts out of reach, heading straight for their camp.

"She's so damn fast!" Emira huffs as they chase.

"Tell us about it." Willow's grumbles as they give chase.

She gets ahead of them enough to get out of their sight and when they burst back into camp she's hunkered down over the fire pit, looking at the small flames still burning in it with fascination.

She looks up as they run toward her shouting and jumps, running straight through the flames, scattering ash and ember as she stumbles.

Not even seeming to notice that the cuff of one leg of her jeans is now on fire.

"She's on fire!" 

"Stop drop and roll, stop drop, and roll!" Gus is shouting as they continue to chase her, but Luz doesn't notice as she zips back into the woods with the group on her literally, hot trail.

The flames lick up to her knee, spreading with the wind she's creating as she runs.

"Someone do something!" Amity yells, she knows her abominations would be much too slow to catch her. Willow tries to grab her with vines, but Luz is moving too erratically between the trees for her to get a grip on her.

Gus tries to create a clone but Luz jumps right over it as it lunges at her.

"No wonder she was so good at grudgby!" He yells.

Viney draws a large orange spell circle and Puddles flies through.

"Grab her, Puddles!" She points and the griffin runs ahead of them, right behind Luz,. But then she makes a hard turn just before the beast can grab her In its beak. 

Willow suddenly knows where they are and throws up a wall of vines, forcing the fleeing girl to change directions just the way she wants her too. Heading straight for the river.

Luz zigzags between the trees almost out of sight when she disappears completely followed by a loud splash.

"Shit" someone shouts as they finally catch up to find Luz thrashing around in the river. They grab her flailing limbs and drag her back onto the shore, she fights them, stringing together half incoherent Spanish and English sentences, but at least the fire is out.

They finally manage to drag her back onto the bank and she tries to take off, but Willow and Viney grab her.

"Luz, relax, it's us!" Gus says and her name seems to catch her attention and she goes limp, giggling to herself. 

"It was wet," she snorts before bursting into full-blown laughter. Everyone just stares at her wide-eyed.

"We need to get her back to camp…," Emira finally says, and Willow and Viney nod, dragging the blitzed-out girl along behind them. She can barely keep her feet under her now and stumbles along limply as they guide her.

"What is wrong with her?" Gus looks at his still giggling friend, concerned, she's looking at her hand and snickering as she flexes her fingers like she's never seen them before."This isn't a human thing is it?" 

"I've never seen her act like this," Amity says and bites her lip.

They get her back to camp and she's still sopping wet, dripping onto the dirt.

"You need to change clothes before you catch your death," Willow tells the spaced-out girl, tentatively releasing her grip.

"Hmm," Luz hums, seemingly thinking about this, and then starts to pull her shirt over her head. 

"Not here in front of everyone!" Emira barks, face turning red.

But Luz doesn't seem to hear in her state and tries to pull it over her head, but the wet material gets stuck and she starts to flail like she's being strangled and Amity and Willow grab her, pulling it back down over her head.

"Hola" Luz just giggles once her head pops back out of the hole.

"Someone's going to have to help her change or she's going to strangle herself…," Viney says and Gus nods in agreement, then all eyes turn to Amity, who flushes bright red.

"Me?!" she yelps.

"Well, if anyone's going to shouldn't it be you? You're her girlfriend," Emira says, crossing her arms.

"I… I never… we…," she stammers, face turning red.

"Gus shouldn't," Willow starts. "And I don't think she'd want any of us to help her if she were in her right mind." She points out reluctantly, the others agree.

"She's going to freeze to death if we don't get her changed soon." Viney frowns. 

Amity knows that's true, even though her face is still bright crimson. She glances at everyone before looking at Luz, who is still looking around with wonder at everything, making grabbing motions at the air at something only she can see while Willow holds her in place with vines to keep her from running off again, but she's started to shiver violently, teeth chattering as she stands there, the cold air chilling her, and Amity resolves herself with a sigh. As embarrassing as this promises to be she'd still much rather suffer through it and have her girlfriend alive.

"Em, grab some clothes out of her bag, and I need a towel…," she grumbles and Emira hurried off to grab the clothes. Viney spins a finger and a towel drops into Amity's hand. "Gus, can you make a curtain? I'm not going to fight her in the tent..." 

The boy nods and in a flash of blue a circular stand with a curtain hanging from it appears.

"Ooh… magia." Luz looks at it with open wonder even as she stands there in Willows grip, quaking. She reaches out and pokes the curtain uncertainly.

Emira comes back, but the clothes in question, Amity recognizes as her own.

"She didn't have any other clothes in her bag." She shrugs, Amity just sighs as she takes them. They were only supposed to be out here a couple of days, it makes sense Luz didn't pack much. Luz has started to grow taller than her over the last few months, but they're still roughly the same size, it will do.

"You can do this…," Amity mumbles to herself, slinging the clothes over her shoulder and grabbing her zoned out girlfriend, who is still fascinated by the curtain, by the arm, Willow releasing her vines, and pulls her behind it.

"Okay, Luz…, we need to get you changed…," she says, and her face brightens at the words.

Luz turns her dilated eyes to her and blinks, seeming to think even though she's shaking from head to toe, dripping water, and part of her jeans burned away up to the knee. 

"Naw" she shakes her head before her attention drifts elsewhere and Amity's embarrassment is somewhat tempered by the annoyance that spikes in her.

"Okay then…" Amity frowns, eyes narrowing and she grabs the hem of Luz's soaked shirt and starts to pull it over her head, that seems to bring her out of her temporary lulled state and she starts to thrash her arms, shouting in incoherent Spanish from inside the wet material and trying to pull away as Amity tugs it over her head despite her fighting.

"Luz, just take your clothes off!" She barks.

Outside, everyone else watches the curtain shake and rattle with the struggle, and sounds of the yelling, and muffled Spanish.

"I kind of always figured she'd be rough…," Emira snickers to herself and Viney elbows her, but is smirking too.

Gus and Willow listen to the struggle, concerned and embarrassed in equal measure.

Amity finally gets the shirt off, leaving Luz in her tank top.

Her once white, now all but transparent tank top and Amity's face burns as she looks away, but this proves to be a mistake, and Luz dashes for the curtain.

"No!" she shouts.

Amity lunges for her before she can run out and wraps the towel around her head, stopping her in her tracks.

"Just let me help you, damnit!" 

It takes twenty long minutes of constant wrestling to get Luz dried and changed into her pants and sweater before she lets go and the human dashes out of the curtain.

She doesn't get very far before vines wrap around her and lift her off the ground. She's shouting in Spanish much too quickly for any of them to understand anything, not that they would understand much anyway.

"Sorry, Luz," Willow says to her.

Amity shoves the curtain aside, looking like she just stepped out of a wind storm, clothes askew and hair a mess, with Luz's wet clothes in hand, and face such an ultraviolet red they're afraid she's about to pop as she turns to Emira.

"We will never speak of this again," She hisses and Emira just nods, holding up her hands, doing her best to fight the grin that threatens to split her face. Amity walks over and lays Luz's clothes over a rock in the sun to dry. 

Luz has started knawing at the vines wrapped around her like a feral animal trying to escape.

"What is wrong with her?" Gus frowns, watching their friend.

"It's like she's been drugged." Emira crosses her arm as they watch her struggle in vain. Eventually, she'll tire herself out; they hope.

"Did something bite her?" Willow wonders.

"She didn't say anything…" Gus scratches his chin.

"Did she eat something?" Amity asks, rejoining them.

"Eat?" Viney asks, and they all turn to her. "I gave her some numberries earlier when we were hiking because she was really sore from yesterday, she ate a handful, but those wouldn't do this." She holds a hand out to the human, slobbering all over the vines as she repeatedly sinks her teeth into them, growling. 

"Luz is human, things that are fine for us to eat don't always agree with her system…, she knows better than to just eat things," Amity groans, face in her hands.

"I think it's safe to say numberries are one of those things…," Willow says looking up at their friend, tearing at bits of the plant with her teeth, and Amity sighs, summoning her scroll, tapping a note on it titled simply: 'Luz's allergies' and types numberries in after lactose, bramblewheat and ghoul peppers, before spelling it away. 

"What should we do?" Gus asks, looking up at Luz, who's given up on trying to knaw her way free and is simply resting her face on the vines, panting.

"Plants taste funny…," she mumbles, smacking her lips and staring off into space.

"Well, she doesn't seem to be poisoned, just tripping," Emira observes. 

"We can probably wait it out," Viney agrees, reaching out to scratch Puddles' head. "Let's make lunch, I'm hungry and we might be able to dilute it some if we feed her," she suggests.

They agree and leave Luz strung up in the vines while they make sandwiches. Amity quickly makes one for Luz and Willow lowers her enough to reach before going back to making her own.

"Eat this, Luz," Amity says, trying to draw the tripping girls' attention as she holds up the sandwich. 

Luz looks at her, and she can see that her pupils are still blown wide, taking up most of her eye. She's looking intently at Amity, like she's never seen her before, despite the debacle behind the curtain.

"Eres tan Bonita…," she mumbles with wonder, and Amity pinks, sighing but the corners of her mouth tick up. Luz has mostly been speaking in Spanish since she started freaking out, so Amity tries something else, trying to recall the right words.

"Por favor, come, querida." She tries holding up the sandwich, hoping that's right.

Luz looks at it a second before opening her mouth and taking a bite. Amity manages to get her to eat all of it without much fuss, her rapidly turning attention locked on her for the moment. Somehow, when she imagined feeding her girlfriend, this wasn't exactly what she had in mind.

Once it's gone she joins the others to eat herself. They watch Luz carefully, bringing her closer to the fire to stay warm. She seems to be getting drowsy now, and within a few minutes is asleep, face down on the vines. 

They check her periodically to make sure she isn't dead.

"So, do we tell Eda about this?" Willow asks looking around at everyone.

They all glance at each other.

"No"

~

It's dinner time when Luz starts to wake.

She squints against the harsh orange light of the setting sun. Her head hurts, hell, her whole body hurts, and her mouth is dry like she's been eating cotton balls. She smacks her mouth and looks around. 

Her friends are scattered around the camp, doing their own things. Amity is the first to notice she's awake and quickly walks over.

"Are you, you again?" she asks tentatively. She can see her pupils have returned to normal size.

"What happened?" she mumbles and Amity sighed in relief before hot anger wells up in her gut.

"You ate numberries and spent half an hour tripping out!" she shouts and Luz winces as she starts to remember her little… episode, including Amity having to help her change and she turns red.

Hearing Amity yell, the others all come over and Willow releases her, she stumbles a little, her legs are asleep. She stares at the ground as they all look at her.

"Luz, are you okay?" Gus asks her.

She nods, looking up at him.

"I think so…"

"Hey, it's okay…" Emira starts and Amity turns on her.

"It is not okay!" she snaps and they all wince. "She knows better than to just eat things!"

"Amity, I…" she starts, rubbing her arm, but Amity just gives her a dark look before spinning on heel and stomping away. Luz deflates at that. Emira just pats her shoulder before following her sister to where she's now sitting on the far opposite end of camp not looking at any of them.

"I'm sorry, guys…," she mumbles sadly to her three friends. 

"She's right, Luz. You could have seriously hurt yourself," Willow sighs and frowns at her, looking disappointed, and Luz shrinks further as the plant witch turns and walks away. Gus looks between them and nods but mouthing 'sorry' before he follows her.

"I feel bad, I'm the one who gave them to you." Viney scratches the back of her head. Luz shakes her head.

"No, you were just trying to help, they're right. I know that sometimes foods affect me weird, and I ate them anyway… this was all my fault…" 

It's now that she notices that her leg really hurts and looks down, pulling up the leg of the pants to see that her left calf is burned in places.

Viney winces at it.

"Oof, let me patch that for you." She offers and Luz nods.

She draws a spell circle and a first aid kit appears and she applies cream to her burns and wraps it up.

"Thanks…," Luz mumbles, and Viney nods before moving jerking her head over to the firepit.

Luz reluctantly follows and plops herself down on the log, where she stays.

Dinner is a quiet, awkward affair, with Amity not talking or even looking at Luz from the other side of the fire. Everyone talks very little and unsurprisingly, most of them decide to turn in a little early. 

Amity disappears into their tent and Luz stays where she is, sitting in front of the fire, knees pulled up to her chest. The other four look at each other uncertainly.

Emira frowns, but knows better than to get involved in this couple's dispute as she stands to go to their tent, Viney follows, shooting Luz a look over her shoulder.

"Luz, do you want to sleep with me?" Willow asks when it becomes apparent that the human is not going to be welcome in her and Amity's tent.

Luz just shakes her head but never looks up from the fire.

"No, thanks, Willow," she mumbles.

Gus and Willow share a look and the boy just shrugs before they go to their own tents, bidding her goodnight.

Luz sighs once she's alone. She hates when any of her friends are mad at her, especially her girlfriend, but she deserves it. She did something stupid. She could have easily gotten herself killed, not to mention severely embarrassing Amity and worrying her.

She picks up a stick and pokes at the fire for a while.

She's not sure how long it's been, but at least a couple of hours as she watches the flames die down to embers and curls up as the cold bites at her. She can see her breath in the low light of the fire. This is just part of her atonement she thinks, so no matter how cold she gets, she stays right where she is.

And Viney wasn't kidding. She can hear Em snoring from across the camp.

She's so engrossed in beating herself up she doesn't hear the tent zipper, nor the quiet footsteps approaching until Amity is standing right next to her in her pajamas, arms crossed.

"Are you going to sit out here all night?" she asks, making Luz jump and look up at her, but seeing that gold gaze she usually adores glaring at her, she turns back to the fire and nods.

"You're going to freeze." Amity huffs. She'd heard Willow offer up her tent and assumed Luz would accept, but as she laid there, unable to sleep, she had heard soft shuffling and peeked her head out to see Luz still sitting by the all but dead fire.

"I'll be fine," she says quietly, making no move to rekindle the fire much less move, and Amity can see the soft shaking of her shoulders. 

Amity sighs to herself.

"Get in the tent, Luz," she says. That does make Luz lookup.

"I'll be fin-" 

"Just get in the tent!" she snaps with a quiet hiss, knowing their friends and her sister are asleep.

Luz hunkers down at that but stands, the last thing she wants to do is make her girlfriend madder at her than she already is. 

She quickly shuffles into the tent, Amity behind her as she zips it up.

She lays on her back and Amity lays on her side, facing away from her. They stay that way, quiet, for a long while.

The few inches between them feels like a chasm, Luz can't even begin to figure out how to bridge. 

She sighs, glancing at the back of Amity's head.

"I'm sorry…," she says quietly, figuring Amity is asleep by now.

But then she hears her sigh and sees a pink spell circle appear, followed by a gently glowing light orb before she turns over to face her.

Amity is looking at her tiredly. 

"Why? You know you're not supposed to just eat things you've never had before without someone to make sure you're okay." 

"I know, I'm sorry… I haven't had a reaction in a while, I was hoping my body was finally getting used to stuff…," she says quietly, half shrugging.

"That doesn't mean you should risk it. This is what Eda was talking about, you can"t do stuff like this on a guess!" Amity bites and Luz looks away. She can't stand that scolding look. "Luz, you set yourself on fire and almost drowned today!" She hisses and Luz flinches.

Amity sighs again and reaches up to cover her eyes with her hands. 

After a few long, silent moments, Luz glances at her and blinks. Amity is shaking and in the dim glow of the light spell, she can see the faint, shiny trails of tears dripping down her girlfriend's face.

She flips onto her side and doesn't hesitate to take hold of Amity's hands and gently pull them away from her face. 

Her eyes are filled with tears as she looks back at Luz's wide, surprised gaze.

"You can't be so careless with your life!" she chokes.

Luz wraps her arms around her and finally pulls her close, Amity, burying her face into her neck and sniffling as she clutches the fabric at her back in her fists.

"I know… I'm sorry for worrying you, Amity. I'll be more careful from now on," she says into her hair. "I promise," she mumbled solemnly. 

She holds her tightly, rubbing her back until the crying stops.

~ 

The atmosphere in the camp is much more relaxed the next morning when it seems Amity and Luz have made up. Nothing makes for a more awkward situation than when your couple friends are fighting.

They make quick work of breaking down camp before packing up and heading out.

Their parents are at work, so Emira heads off with Viney on Puddles, waving as they fly off.

Once they reach the bottom of the trail, Gus and Willow wave before they head off on their own, leaving the couple alone as they trek back to the owl house.

Amity's hand is wrapped in hers as they walk along in the cool morning air.

Luz has been quiet though, thinking. She truly needed to start making more effort to think about things before she did them. She wasn't just thinking about herself anymore, but how things she did affect Amity too, and realizes she would be just as worried all the time if Amity was more like her.

"I'm going to think more before I do things from now on," she says suddenly, making Amity look up at her.

"I know," she says, squeezing her hand. 

"Also… I'm sorry about the … having to help me change thing…," she says quietly, scratching her pink cheek awkwardly with her free hand.

Amity turns red at that.

"It's okay…," she finally says after a second. "I couldn't let anyone else do it…," she mumbles

Luz chuckles a little at that.

"Yeah… I don't think I could have looked any of them in the eye ever again…," she admits. "Especially Em or Gus…" 

"Like I was going to let Emira do it…," Amity huffs, and Luz really laughs at that, making Amity smirk.

Eda is standing out front, sweeping the stoop when they walk out of the woods and she looks up at them and grins.

"Hey, how was camping?" she asks, leaning on the broom and looking between them.

They glance at each other quickly.

"Fine!" they both say quickly, and Eda just blinks at them.

**Author's Note:**

> So, I have a plan. I have this and 3 more planned out. One of them is VERY important, but  
> I'm not gonna tell you which...


End file.
